Iowa’s Workforce department has forgotten its mission, Senator says

Iowa Workforce Development – the agency that has been rocked by criticism in its move to close unemployment offices – has abandoned its mission, an Iowa senator said today.

The latest criticism comes on the day that the department has closed access at the Des Moines unemployment office’s person-to-person assistance for people who have trouble with unemployment claims. Instead, people will be directed to a phone bank or a Web site for assistance. Other in-person services at the Des Moines center continue.

“It’s beyond me, ladies and gentlemen, that the Department has continued to go down the path of sticking a thumb into the face of dislocated and unemployed workers,” said Sen. Bill Dotzler, D-Waterloo and a member of the Workforce board. “It’s time for it to stop.”

Workforce officials closed 36 unemployment offices last year in a budget move the Iowa Supreme Court ultimately ruled unconstitutional. However, through a series of legislative moves, none of the offices have reopened.

The latest move is considered a pilot project that will be implemented in the other 18 remaining offices if it’s successful in Des Moines. It is considered an effort by the department to get ahead of the expected loss of about $5 million in federal funding for the upcoming fiscal year. Moving all unemployment filing assistance to a central phone base will save the department upward of $3 million a year, spokeswoman Kerry Koonce said last week.

Iowa is one of just five states that haven’t already centralized the service, which was recommended by the U.S. Department of Labor. The rest of Iowa’s unemployment centers could make the same move in about six months if the Des Moines test goes well, Koonce said.

Dotzler today on the Senate floor said the move derails the so-called one-stop service centers that the state for decades had promoted.

He told the Senate that he never thought he would see the department lose sight of what its job is to the public and that he’s surprised that business groups like the Iowa Association of Business and Industry aren’t enraged by the changes. Dotzler believes the changes will result in Iowa’s being unemployed longer, placing stress on a system that employers pay into that provides unemployment benefits.

John Gilliland, a spokesman for the association, said its 1,400 members are largely in favor of giving the changes a chance. There has been previous concern, he said, that some of the past unemployment offices weren’t too much of a benefit. The more than 2,000 computer kiosks that have replaced the closed 36 offices offer longer hours, he noted.

“Our members certainly have an interest in short- and long-term unemployment issues but I think they understand that we’re in a period of transition and trying to deliver the services in a more efficient manner,” Gilliland said.

Efforts to reach Workforce officials were not immediately successful this afternoon.